Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has issued a decree that allows him to repatriate foreigners accused or convicted of a crime, based on a memorandum from the public prosecutor and with the Cabinet’s approval. The power is to be used “whenever the higher interest of the state dictates it,” according to the text of the law.

Lawmakers disagreed over the law's constitutionality. Legal expert Mohammad Nour Farhat wrote: “The penal code is territorial and applied to all acts occurring on the state’s territories, including crimes, regardless of their committers [be they Egyptians or foreigners]. This matter is related to the state’s sovereignty."

“The president’s authority over criminals does not constitutionally start until the issuance of the final judgment and is represented by the right of pardon. Before that, interference in judicial affairs or in proceedings is a crime to which no statute of limitations may be applied,” he added, referring to Article 184 of the 2014 constitution.

“In most cases, foreign states release the citizens handed over to them, in the absence of a binding international agreement that obliges the foreign state to prosecute those citizens who were released by the Egyptian state or to apply the punishment issued by the Egyptian courts,” Farhat said.